ANTH 235: CASE STUDY, COMPLEX SOCIETIES



ANTH 235

CASE STUDY, EARLY COMPLEX SOCIETIES

“complex society” versus “civilization”

Complex societies possess the following common features (after V. Gordon Childe):

1. densely populated settlements (often, but not always, including cities)

1. food and labor surplus controlled by an elite

1. specialization of labor and craft production

1. social stratification

1. monumental public works

1. a system of record keeping (e.g., writing, the Inca khipu, Aztec codices...)

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Inca khipu (or quipu); early 16th century CE, Peru. An extremely sophisticated mnemonic device employing knotted strings of varying lengths and colors.

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The Aztec Codex Boturini, page 19; 1530-1541 CE, Mexico

1. a state-level political organization

EXPLAINING THE EVOLUTION OF CIVILIZATION: The idea that complex human phenomena such as the origins of civilization may require complex explanations is not new.

“It is both a natural and proper desire to learn, if possible, how…savages, advancing by slow, almost imperceptible steps, attained the higher condition of barbarians; how barbarians, by similar progressive advancement, finally attained to civilization.”

Lewis Henry Morgan, (Ancient Society, 1877)

The Explanation of Race: Mid-19th century: Gustav Klemm (Germany) & Count J. A. de Gobineau (France) both argued that race was the key factor in the development of civilization. Each civilization was unique because of biological factors.

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Classic Maya site at Tikal, Guatemala occupied from ca. 200-850 CE

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The Great Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Citadel of the Mutapa Empire, continuously under construction and occupied between 400-1400 CE.

Environmental Determinism:

“Man can apparently live in any region where he can obtain food, but his physical and mental energy and his moral character reach their highest development only in a few strictly limited areas.”

Ellsworth Huntington, (Civilization and Climate, 1924)

According to this view, environments that were too “easy” or too naturally productive did not foster cultural development. If people were not challenged by their environment – did not need to invent things to survive – they would not be obliged to advance. On the other hand, if the climate was too rigorous, people would be too caught up in the necessities of survival to progress beyond mere subsistence. Only climates falling somewhere between too rigorous and too generous would lead to the development of civilization. (One might think of this colloquially as the “Goldilocks Theory” for the origins of complex societies…!)

Unilinear Evolution: First attempt to explain cultural development through cultural explanations, but still heavily influenced by Darwinian evolutionary perspective. This idea is essentially materialistic and economically based; hence it formed the basis for many Marxist interpretations of the origins of complex societies.

LEWIS HENRY MORGAN’S

CULTURAL EVOLUTIONARY MODEL (1877)

CIVILIZATION

Alphabet & Writing

(

UPPER BARBARISM

Iron Tools

(

MIDDLE BARBARISM

Domestication of Plants and Animals

(

LOWER BARBARISM

Pottery

(

UPPER SAVAGERY

Bow & Arrow

(

MIDDLE SAVAGERY

Hunting Subsistence & Fire

(

LOWER SAVAGERY

Fruit & Nut Subsistence

The “Hydraulic Hypothesis” of Karl Wittfogel in which early irrigation technology, requiring the harnessing of large numbers of people in cooperative labor, led to the development of more complex societies.

The Circumscription Hypothesis of Robert Carneiro who said that civilized states came about through a series of rational choices among the people involved; that only coercion or force can explain this developmental trajectory. Populations grow, resources diminish, so territory must be expanded and other people’s toes are trod upon. Conflict and force leads to more complex organization.

CURRENT THINKING ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES:

Kernel question: “Why did civilization happen?”

Joseph Tainter’s taxonomy of hypotheses for the origins of civilization (The Collapse of Complex Societies, 1988):

1. Managerial hypotheses maintain that civilization developed in response to a need for more complex forms of political integration. Managerial hierarchies arose to accomplish complex tasks (canal building, management of trade, etc.), leading to social stratification and other trappings associated with civilization. (e.g., Wittfogel’s Hydraulic Hypothesis)

1. Internal conflict hypotheses suggest that class conflict is the principal (though not only) cause of social complexity. Institutions arise to protect the wealth and power of a privileged few. Marxism is an example.

1. External conflict hypotheses suggest that the institutions of civilization arose in response to an external threat. Goals are to successfully respond to the threat and administer groups defeated in warfare (e.g., Carniero’s Circumscription Hypothesis).

1. Synthetic hypotheses are those that combine several interrelated processes, including those referred to above.

Most archaeologists today believe that #4 – synthetic hypotheses – offer the best explanations for the origins of complex societies. They avoid simplistic monocausal “prime mover” explanations.

CONCLUSIONS:

• Myriad factors impinging on agricultural groups in the Indus and Nile valleys, in Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, China, South America, North America, southern and western Africa, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere seem to have set in motion forces whose ultimate impact on these societies was enormous.

• At least in the broadest sense, we are all still living with the consequences of those changes in our post-industrial complex societies…

Make-up Exam: One comprehensive, essay-type make-up exam, covering the entire semester’s material, will be given on Thursday, 10 December (12:30-1:45 PM, Haury Anthropology Building Room 215; BRING A BLUE BOOK!).

You MAY take the make-up exam in substitution of the lower of your two midterm scores.

There is no make-up available for the final exam nor are substitutions or deadline extensions possible for the paper assignment.

Final Exam: Non-comprehensive; format similar to midterms with multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank sections, plus one 50-point essay. Tuesday, 15 December, 8:00-10:00 AM, Haury 215. All you need to bring is a pen.

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